No More Guessing!!!!!!

[Norm's Coupe]

Finally no more guessing or trying to keep track of MPG to see how much gas I have left:D :D !!! As mentioned before I replaced the gage wires from the sending unit to the dash with new wires. Afterward I showed a little over 1/4 tank of gas on the gage. Have been trying to run it down ever since. Got it down to about 1/8th of a tank. Just picked up a 5 gallon can of gas when I bought gas for the van. Put the 5 gallons in the tank and now it shows 1/2 a tank of gas. Since the tank holds about 15 gallons, 1/8th of a tank would be around 2 gallons and half a tank would be around 7 gallons. So........the gage is working and it looks like it's accurate. Happy days are here again! :D

If you're having trouble with your gage and have tried everything else, try running new wires and you may solve your problems too. Worked for me!!!

Don Coatney. That's one reason I haven't been driving the coupe that much. Didn't like guessing or stopping for gas everytime I wanted to drive it. Now it will get more miles on it this year.

[DutchEdwin]

Norm, you would probably have thought of this but.....here's a point of caution for all of you who didn't.

Most people when they do a tank job the right way the weld it, paint it and wire it. Then they discover..... the sending unit does not operate. So they run a wire from the gauge to the sending unit. Now all is fine, unit works, gauge works, let's go driving

Here's where you should stop and start to think, did I forget something :confused: .

The answer is YES.

All tanks we use are made of metal. When you did the paint job you insulated the tank. By doing this you are letting static to built up when you drive. Can you imagine what will happen on a perfect sunny day, low moister in the air. You will be driving a time bomb with a random timing generator on when it will ignite the gas in the tank. To give you an estimate, a helicopter will built up as much as 60,000 Volts only because of the air rubbing the fuselage by the down draft of the rotors.

I've seen a test film on comparing a plastic tank with a metal tank (in this case, ignition by heat). It is pretty impressive on what will happen. Now I know why they now will use plastic tanks.

So the lesson of today is, GROUND WIRE YOUR TANK.

[Norm's Coupe]

Very good point Edwin. And yes, my tank is grounded. I replaced my tank several years ago with a poly tank. Because of that, the sender has to have a separate ground to it. It also has a separate vent on the new tank and a roll over valve. So, it's probably safer than the old steel tank was. Actually, my gage was working right after replacing the tank, then stopped. The old wires were original and probably had a break in them some place between the tank and dash. That's what caused my problems.

You are right about the paint too. I have heard several stories about people having their tanks done by "Tank Renew" with a nice coating on them. Then when they hook up the gage, it doesn't work because they couldn't get a good ground. Then then had to sand or grind off some of the coating to hook up a separate ground wire to get a good ground.

[Young Ed]

My tank from gas tank renu came back with the sending unit area uncoated.

[Norm's Coupe]

Ed,

They must have changed then, or it may depend on which Tank Renu shop you use. I know the person who owns http://www.searcher.com had the tank for his P15 coated several years ago by them too. Then his gage didn't work until he ran a separate ground wire for the sender. Can't remember his name off hand now. There has been others that complained about the same thing.

[Young Ed]

I imagine it depends on the shop or even who's working in the shop on a given day. Very happy with my tank even at the price they charged! Rather have it done right then multiple times like the tank in my truck.

[Don Coatney]

That is good news Norm;

I can imagine the aggrivation of running out of gas when you pulled your car out in the driveway and then not being able to pull it back in the garage.

I once ran out of gas when I had my engine running on the test stand in my garage. Had to walk 5 miles to the gas station. Made it home and was able to finally go back into the house.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I assume this was an uphill walk both ways...right Don?

[Don Coatney]

I assume this was an uphill walk both ways...right Don?

Yes. I almost forgot that part;)

[Norm's Coupe]

That is good news Norm;

I can imagine the aggrivation of running out of gas when you pulled your car out in the driveway and then not being able to pull it back in the garage.

I once ran out of gas when I had my engine running on the test stand in my garage. Had to walk 5 miles to the gas station. Made it home and was able to finally go back into the house.

Don, whenever I ran out of gas in the driveway, I get in my van and drive about 2 miles to the gas station to get gas. You could have saved wear and tear on the legs if you took your truck to get the gas.

[Don Coatney]

Don' date=' whenever I ran out of gas in the driveway, I get in my van and drive about 2 miles to the gas station to get gas. You could have saved wear and tear on the legs if you took your truck to get the gas.[/quote']

Dang Norm;

My dad always told me that when you ran out of gas you had to walk:confused:

[Norm's Coupe]

Dang Norm;

My dad always told me that when you ran out of gas you had to walk:confused:

Don, that just proves one thing. Father doesn't always know best.

[DutchEdwin]

Don, ever heard of a bicycle, you can store one in the trunk if you want too Saves your foot ware when the sending unit failed.

In this way it is of no use

[steveplym]

I had tried everything to get my fuel gauge to work on my '47 p15 sedan.

I replaced the sending unit, and had made sure I ran a good ground on the tank.

A few months back after reading several posts about the subject I took a wire and ran it from between the sending unit and gasket on top of the fuel tank. Ran it down to the frame and connected it there.

I hooked everything back up and the gauge was skewed. It was on 3/4 when full and then would go up with a less full tank. Couldn't figure it out. So I bought a NOS gauge off of ebay.

Today I decided to replace the gauge. Laid under the dash and noticed that on terminal 2 the wire running from it appeared to be sliced. Looked like there was an open there. So I figured why not run new wires before replacing this gauge? I noticed in the manual what the gauge would do if there was an open on one of the terminals and it seemed to fit what my gauge was doing.

I did change my wires last summer to see if that might help, but keep in mind I did this before I ran the ground wire. So the problem still existed with new wires as there was not a good ground before.

I hooked up the new wires temporary and turned on the key. The gauge read 1/4 tank. I went ahead and put 5 gals. in the tank and it shows almost 1/2 a tank!

I'm so glad I decided to change those wires again before changing the gauge. Everything appears to be working fine now. Ran the new wires under the carpet and back to the sending unit.

No more guessing or keeping track of the odometer. All of your ideas on here are much appreciated. Going to make driving the old car even more fun now.

[Norm's Coupe]

Steve, I know a lot of people on this board has had trouble with the gauge. They too have tried many things to fix it, as I did without success. That is until I ran my new wires. I think a lot of people could get their gauges fixed with just new wiring instead of new senders or gauges. Old wires get brittle when they get as old as ours are, then some of the strands break. That can happen even when the outside wire insulation looks good. Buying new wire is cheap and not hard to do, so if someone is having a problem they should just go ahead and change them. There is a good chance it will solve their problem with the gauge too.

Glad to hear you got yours fixed.